Workington Town were denied back-to-back Championship wins by a dogged Midlands Hurricanes side who won a hard-fought game at the Fibrus Community Stadium 24-20.
The opening 15 minutes had been pretty even, before the Midlands went in front after a slack tackle by Town allowed Ryan Johnston to burst through and touchdown with Sully Medforth converting.
Town were back into it with two tries inside two minutes. The first after 33 minutes came from a splendidly disguised pass from Rio Corkill in which he didn’t look but was accepted by Braden Leigh to score in the corner.
Town went back to back when Jake Dickinson was the beneficiary of an Evan Lawther basket ball pass and they had a narrow 8-6 lead.
Unfortunately Town’s defensive frailties again were exposed on the hooter when Todd Horner did really well to split half the Town team and go under the posts, Medforth’s conversion gave Midlands a 12-8 half-time lead.
It didn’t help the cause when Town got off to the worst possible start in the second-half when Zarrin Galea fumbled and Johnston profited by scoring his second try, converted by Medforth.
Town responded well in the next set after being awarded a penalty and half-time substitute, Jamie Doran fed Jack Ainley through a gap to score. Dom Wear converted.
The home side seemed to be gaining momentum but when they gave away a penalty Medforth had no hesitation in taking the two points on offer and increased the lead to 20-14.
Another penalty gave them a try on 52 minutes when a Midlands overload saw Matty Chrimes exploit a gap to score but this time Medforth was unable to convert.
Town needed to score quickly to get back into it but they couldn’t make inroads until the last 10 minutes when Guy Graham ploughed over and Wear converted.
Town finished with a few injury concerns, too, as both Galea and Wear had to leave the field before the end as Midlands saw it through to the final hooter to claim the points.
- Town man of the match – Evan Lawther.
- Crowd: 789
Hear Jonty Gorley’s views below:
